According to state and federal records obtained by The Los Angeles Times, maintaining the California death penalty system costs taxpayers more than $114 million a year beyond the cost of simply keeping the convicts locked up for life. This figure does not count the millions more spent on court costs to prosecute capital cases. The Times concluded that Californians and federal taxpayers have paid more than a quarter of a billion dollars for each of the state’s 11 executions, and that it costs $90,000 more a year to house one inmate on death row, where each person has a private cell and extra guards, than in general prison population. This additional cost per prisoner adds up to $57.5 million in annual spending.

California has 640 people on death row, about 20% of the nation’s total, but it accounts for only 1% of the nation’s executions. Since California reinstated the death penalty in 1978, 11 people have been executed.

The Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, Ronald George, said that 115 death row inmates still have not been appointed lawyers for their first direct appeal and 149 lack lawyers for other parts of their appeal. The court spends 20% of its time and resources on death penalty cases alone. (Los Angeles Times, March 6, 2005). See Costs and Life Without Parole.

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